Why the upswing in requirements/specifications being posted...

[matt]

It seems that recently there's been an upswing in posts that are just requirements or specifications. Like "I need a report to display the number of leaches feeding in the SCN pool. Please advise.". Is it that more people are finding jobs that they're not trained for? Or is it just laziness?

And while were at it, why do certain individuals insist on answering questions that they must know by now will be rejected when spotted by a moderator, or a community minded members? Why do they waste their time answering these questions - and, more importantly, wasting my time?

[Private_Member_7726]

I don't mind so much bare requirements being posted, if it's clear, what needs to be done, and I sometimes take on those posts as a form of "training" for myself, because I can imagine the requirement coming before me one day. But it's seeing this kind of posts that irritates me:

"i got a requirement to render html with out custom container."

Yes, that's the whole "requirement"...

[Jelena]

Hm, so why on earth are we paying a consulting company when there are so many helpful people available on SCN for free? Heck, I could even open my own consulting company. Phase 1 - take specification from the customer. Phase 2 - post them on SCN. Phase 3 - profit!

[JL23]

Are you certain that others did not already have this idea? I fear this business model is already in place.

[former_member182378]

The reason I answer a type of basic questions is similar to views by

Basic questions about SD organizational elements e.g. how many distribution channels should we have for xyz business scenarios? what is the role of distribution channel? Business scenarios with possible solution being sales office etc.

Even if these questions are basic, these are the backbone of any implementation or roll out. Having the ability to explain clearly is key and will come one ways in his/her line of work. It will help when interviewed for a project, discussing with business users, in general disciplining ones mind to think and express clearly, other benefits.

It is ok what people see around them...many markets encourage faking experience...the "successful" candidates, the trainers, the training institutes, the job market. So in this kind of environment (society), people get the idea that faking is ok and when it gets embedded deeply in ones mind, then it might not trouble him/her...let alone haunt for life.

Every one should know by life experience that when you get something way cheaper then there is a big chance that it is of inferior quality. Still customers buy those services and then why complain? why the employees (managers, business users) complain? Your company paid next to nothing and this is what you get...live with it!

Mat, laziness could be the reason. Laziness restricts one from gathering knowledge from the internet where we can get so so much about SAP. Doing good research before discussing with client will help immensely and save time on both sides.

TW

[SimoneMilesi]

Every one should know by life experience that when you get something way cheaper then there is a big chance that it is of inferior quality. Still customers buy those services and then why complain? why the employees (managers, business users) complain? Your company paid next to nothing and this is what you get...live with it!

Agree over and over and over

Or even worst (2 years ago experience of my RL): companies hire the "Big Name" consulting company even when their employees and key users already refuse to work with them due the low quality and support.

But "Big Name" is still hired because can afford to pay any delay/penal.

[Former Member]

Every one should know by life experience that when you get something way cheaper then there is a big chance that it is of inferior quality.

Usually from "fast, good, cheap" one can choose not more than two. Sometimes only one.

[Jelena]

TW Typewriter wrote:

So in this kind of environment (society), people get the idea that faking is ok and when it gets embedded deeply in ones mind, then it might not trouble him/her

That's exactly why "spec dumping" should not be encouraged. No matter how well intended the response is it sends a wrong message that such posts are acceptable on SCN. If a "spec dumper" gets someone to do their job once, they will likely be back for more.

Still customers buy those services and then why complain? why the employees (managers, business users) complain? Your company paid next to nothing and this is what you get...live with it!

Employees complain because the managers make reckless decisions but they're usually not the ones paying the price for those decisions. Since the same managers are usually are not very perceptive to the employee input, all we can do is talk about it at the water cooler or its global equivalent - SCN.

[matt]

Well, at least he's cheap... but then it turns out it takes 50 times longer than the guy who's paid only 25 times as much.

[Former Member]

...and all who made this decision are already gone with the wind out of the project or even the company.

[Former Member]

Until they ask "Have an error in FM Z_CODING please HELP!!!" (without any code of course) don't let the hope dye.

[Jelena]

Schools are out. I think it's a seasonal wave every year. Although some fly-by-night ABAPer schools seem to have graduations year-round...

[Colleen]

I thought there must have been a recent graduate intake of consultants out there or interview rounds with some of the questions appearing

HCM space (not sure why I follow it) has heaps of questions along lines of 'please provide blueprint template for xyz' or 'what is xyz'.

People answer them. They want to be helpful an do the needful

[Former Member]

Colleen Lee wrote:


People answer them. They want to be helpful an do the needful

Helpful is relative. It does not help me or other customers when  well-meaning people help these untrained/ inexperienced poseurs pass for  persons of competence and get staffed on projects where they are in over their heads and muck things up royally. Yes, we were all new at some point, and when we were new, we got training and worked alongside more experienced people.  Some of the questions I've seen lately have made me wonder how the posters were allowed to get anywhere near the SAP system.

Gretchen

[matt]

I think this excellent confession/blog explains how these people are allowed near a SAP system.

I know many sites where "low cost" developers have been brought in from overseas, and then a little while later, local developers are brought it at high cost to fix all the problems caused by the incompetence/inexperience of the dear friends from foreign shores.

I think CIOs get dazzled by the "we can bring in 20 consultants at a day's notice for 50p a day" promise.

[paul_bakker2]

Would the same CIO import a heart surgeon for $50 a day, to do his/her triple bypass?

Think of the savings!

[matt]

I know one place where payroll was off-shored. Except executive payroll of course!

[paul_bakker2]

I always say:

There's no need to import incompetent SAP consultants. We have plenty of them right here in Australia.

[Colleen]

Paul... too true

[SimoneMilesi]

Mmmm.. i do not know. My opinion is more seesaw lately about what your statement,.

i try to explain: what i'm facing is that most (all?) companies "sell" a project - service with hyper-uber-gurus with incredible low prices and then... put in the last one, fresh of graduation, as cannon fodder.

And then the poor guy got 2 roads to take:

1-he's smart and learn somehow and quick

2-he's not so smart or is just lazy and lay there, being pulled around by the others.

So, yes, i'm more willing to help on silly questions, because it can be the one who is asking is the 1st type of freshmen.

To be honest, what bothers me more is when you ask a question, explain in detail the issue and the steps you took and the hungry points-hunter jump in providing as solution the exact steps you already posted.

Then here i become lazy and do not alert the mods, just curse the points-hunters and bang my head on the wall

[JL23]

I would certainly bang another ones head to the wall, this saves me the headaches.

I can see as well a good intention in bringing freshers into a project.

They can quickly learn that project live is much harder than school days.

You can immediately know if this user is able to listen to catch the issue, has analytical skills to work into the right direction to get to the root cause, has communication skills to ask his colleagues and supervisors first before posting eventually confidential information in a public forum.

All the answers to basic, frequently asked and even incomplete questions are nothing else than a machinery to keep a dead body alive for some months.  Might be good too, as the person will receive some money an can feed the family, but they should use the time to search for a more suitable job.

[SimoneMilesi]

What i see (surely in italian background, but working with a multinational customer i see the approach is the same in many other company) is that the bosses, to keep wage low, throw without any support the freshmen into the project, maybe in a critical phase, when the experienced ones cannot "loose" too much time.

Surely, many (most?) of common questions placed here are from ppl who maybe are too afraid to ask their collegue (to ashmed? ), but still i cannot blame them all around

[Steffi_Warnecke]

Simone Milesi wrote:

[...]

Surely, many (most?) of common questions placed here are from ppl who maybe are too afraid to ask their collegue (to ashmed? ), but still i cannot blame them all around 

I can understand, that could be a big thing. At the same time, it's kind of ironic that you can be too afraid/ashamed to ask your colleague, but are okay with asking millions of strangers for all the (internet)world to see. It's not like your colleagues (or bosses) can't read it here. ^^

[SimoneMilesi]

Steffi, i'm not so open and talkative in RL as i'm on internet.

Internet somehow offers you a filter/mask and you can catfish alot (sadly? Thankfully? It's not up to me judge ).

Many shields are lowered here and, about collegues and bosses reading here, many ppl got just a nick or the name without surname or not got a pic (again, it's nothing wrong with it! 😞 do you know how many Simone Milesi there are in Northen Italy? there are WHOLE villages where the only surname you found is "Milesi"

[Steffi_Warnecke]

Sure, but how many of those would post a specific question to an issue you have an your current SAP project? ^^

[SimoneMilesi]

hit the nail

[RafkeMagic]

or search the forums (and why not the entire internet) for the answer which has probably been posted a couple of times before (maybe not in exact words, but hey... you gotta do something to earn that money to feed your family, no?)

[Jelena]

Simone Milesi wrote:

Surely, many (most?) of common questions placed here are from ppl who maybe are too afraid to ask their collegue (to ashmed? ), but still i cannot blame them all around 

Simone, this thread in particular is about the "spec dumping", i.e. the "questions" like:

Dear gurus,
<business requirement>
Please provide a solution.

It's not like some newbie got a complex task, searched high and low and got overwhelmed. It's just someone copy/pasting their work assignment on SCN. Why should anyone do their job while they are getting paid?

And if we do that then those terrible trends that you've described (getting unqualified people on the project as some odd cost-saving measure) will just continue. Maybe those assignments need not to be done and projects need to fail for people to realize their mistakes?

[SimoneMilesi]

Uhmmmm

It's so wrong? Why do not give just a couple of hints without sharing your own solution?
Sometime i faced the same situation: being throwed in a project with something completly new for me and not being sure about how to proceed.

Again, all depends by the requirment (easy report? i skip the thread. A somehow complex task? Share my approach).

It's still a way to learn and, as stated, a way for me to try out new solutions.

Eck! It even happen that i recycled a thread i replied to provide  a customer a new solution/approach.

I do not know.. maybe i'm getting old and tired, maybe it's the damn high temperture (40°C at 10 in the morning here ), but i do not find it's so negative.

i find these issues silly? Maybe, but who never posted a silly question here?
i find them irritating? Not as much as the brainless and out of scope answers from the point hunters

[faisal_pc]

Hi Mathew,..

Ohh....I was thinking it's happening in CRM space only more.

Will it not be a right idea to search some basic things before we post?

Thanks,

Faisal

[Private_Member_7726]

Hi Matt,

I'm always kind of unsure about it... in your opinion, should I be reporting this kind of stuff, or is it still "borderline keep":

Thanks and cheers

Jānis

[matt]

The thing is, that I'm not that experienced with smartforms. I had five to write about six years ago that were fairly complex - and that was my first and last exposure! I found the process all very straightforward, with the help of the documentation and scn. These things mean it is difficult for me to tell if a question is basic - so then I rely on those who are more familiar with the subject to report such posts.

[Lukas_Weigelt]

Matthew Billingham wrote:

It seems that recently there's been an upswing in posts that are just requirements or specifications. Like "I need a report to display the number of leaches feeding in the SCN pool. Please advise.". Is it that more people are finding jobs that they're not trained for? Or is it just laziness?

Both.

Matthew Billingham wrote:


And while were at it, why do certain individuals insist on answering questions that they must know by now will be rejected when spotted by a moderator, or a community minded members? Why do they waste their time answering these questions - and, more importantly, wasting my time?

For the sake of pinots, I guess.

Hang in there, maybe things will "solve themselves asdf" by the end of the year. 😕

[former_member186746]

Hmmm pinots, I still have an amazing bottle of frühburgunder at home...

I was just about to post something similar in coffee corner.

It's probably seasonal I guess.

Lots of clueless people and copy pasted requirements. Or like the ricef guy who basically said:

hi guys! I am in charge of doing A, I do not know how to do A, please advise how to do A

[Matt_Fraser]

I've always been a big fan of pinot noir myself, though not much beats a good cotes du Rhone, which is typically a pinot noir, syrah, and grenache mix, if I recall correctly.

[former_member186746]

Me too Matt, if you can find it there are some good 100% pinot noirs from new zealand areas Marlborough and Martinborough. Try Waka, or Dr Renwick.

And Germany has some really good pinot noirs, it is called Spätburgunder over there.

[Matt_Fraser]

In fact I brought some Marlborough Pinots home with me from my trip to New Zealand in February. I just drank one of them, a Mt Riley, and it was amazingly good.